Aachen Hauptbahnhof

Aachen Central Station (German: Aachen Hauptbahnhof) is the train station for the city of Aachen, in the far west of Germany near the Dutch and Belgian border. It is the largest of the four currently active Aachen stations, and is integrated into the long-distance network.

History

A station at Aachen was first opened in 1841, when the Rheinische Eisenbahngesellschaft opened its line from Cologne. The line first was extended to Herbesthal (near the Belgian border) and on October 15, 1843 to Antwerp. The first station was built outside of the city walls, however the city soon grew and the station eventually became surrounded by new buildings. The Prussian State Railways deemed that rather impractical and decided to build a new station situated on a hillside. Embankments and new bridges were built from 1901 onward, and on December 21, 1905 the station opened at its new location.

The station remained largely undisturbed until suffering from damage in 1944, when German troops were retreating. However, since the rail link was highly valued by the Allied forces, damage was cleared up rather quickly and in 1950 all war damage had been removed from the site. Since 2002 the Cologne–Aachen high-speed railway line allows connections to Cologne with speeds up to 250 km/h (160 mph).

Electrification

In 1966, Aachen Hauptbahnhof was electrified. Due to its proximity to Belgium, it was decided to implement the switching point from the Deutsche Bahn's 15 kV AC to the 3000 V DC used by the NMBS/SNCB in the station. Tracks 6 to 9 therefore have a switchable catenary and are used for international Thalys, ICE and RegionalExpress services.

Renovations

The station hall was renovated from 2000 to 2006. In 2007 a new electronic signal box was built, enabling more streamlined operations and automatic switching of the correct voltages. The cost estimate for the revamp was around € 40 million. The main changes were:

• Construction of 400m long platforms for international traffic, replacing the old 250m platforms that did not allow economic usage due to their limited length.
• Special through tracks (tracks 3 and 4) for freight trains to the Netherlands and Belgium (via Montzen) to Aachen West.
• Constructional changes to the system changeover point to Belgium; a new track layout, which allows the smooth changeover of electric locomotives and is capable of handling the increasing number of through carriages.
• Improvement of the layout to remove operating problems, especially in the sidings.

Train services

The following services currently call at Aachen Hbf:

• high speed services (Thalys) Paris - Brussels - Cologne - Essen
• NRW-Express Aachen - Cologne - Düsseldorf - Duisburg - Essen - Dortmund - Hamm - Paderborn
• Wupper-Express Dortmund - Hagen - Wuppertal - Düsseldorf - Mönchengladbach - Aachen
• Rhein-Sieg-Express Aachen - Cologne - Siegburg/Bonn - Siegen

Series	Operator	Route	Material	Frequency	Notes
ICE79	DB	Brussel Midi/Zuid - Brussel Nord - Liège-Guillemins - Aachen Hbf - Köln Hbf - Frankfurt/Main Flughafen Fernbahnhof - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf	ICE 3	4x per day
RE4 Wupper-Express	DB Regio	Dortmund Hbf - Witten Hbf - Hagen Hbf - Ennepetal (Gevelsberg) station - Schwelm - Wuppertal-Oberbarmen - Wuppertal-Barmen - Wuppertal Hbf - Wuppertal-Vohwinkel - Düsseldorf Hbf - Neuss Hbf - Mönchengladbach Hbf - Rheydt Hbf - Erkelenz - Hückelhoven-Baal - Lindern - Geilenkirchen - Übach-Palenberg - Herzogenrath - Aachen West - Aachen Schanz - Aachen Hbf	DB Class 111 with double-deck coaches	1x per hour
RB20 Euregiobahn	DB Regio	Heerlen - Heerlen de Kissel - Landgraaf - Eygelshoven Markt - Herzogenrath - Kohlscheid - Aachen West - Aachen Schanz - Aachen Hbf - Aachen-Rothe Erde - Eilendorf - Stolberg (Rheinland) Hbf - Eschweiler-West - Eschweiler Talbahnhof - Eschweiler-Nothberg - Eschweiler-Weisweiler - Langerwehe - Düren	DB Class 643	1x per hour	Operates jointly with RB20 from Heerlen to Stolberg
RB20 Euregiobahn	DB Regio	Heerlen - Heerlen de Kissel - Landgraaf - Eygelshoven Markt - Herzogenrath - Kohlscheid - Aachen West - Aachen Schanz - Aachen Hbf - Aachen-Rothe Erde - Eilendorf - Stolberg (Rheinland) Hbf - Stolberg-Schneidmühle - Stolberg-Mühlener Bahnhof - Stolberg-Rathaus - Stolberg-Altstadt	DB Class 643	1x per hour	Operates jointly with RB20 from Heerlen to Düren
RB20 Euregiobahn	DB Regio	Alsdorf-Annapark - Alsdorf-Busch - Herzogenrath-August-Schmidt-Platz - Herzogenrath-Alt-Merkstein - Herzogenrath - Kohlscheid - Aachen West - Aachen Schanz - Aachen Hbf - Aachen-Rothe Erde - Eilendorf - Stolberg (Rheinland) Hbf - Eschweiler-West - Eschweiler Talbahnhof - Eschweiler-Nothberg - Eschweiler-Weisweiler - Langerwehe - Düren	DB Class 643	1x per hour	Operates jointly with RB20 from Alsdorf-Annapark to Stolberg
RB20 Euregiobahn	DB Regio	Alsdorf-Annapark - Alsdorf-Busch - Herzogenrath-August-Schmidt-Platz - Herzogenrath-Alt-Merkstein - Herzogenrath - Kohlscheid - Aachen West - Aachen Schanz - Aachen Hbf - Aachen-Rothe Erde - Eilendorf - Stolberg (Rheinland) Hbf - Stolberg-Schneidmühle - Stolberg-Mühlener Bahnhof - Stolberg-Rathaus - Stolberg-Altstadt	DB Class 643	1x per hour	Operates jointly with RB20 from Alsdorf-Annapark to Düren
RE29 euregioAIXpress	SNCB/NMBS	Liège-Guillemins - Angleur - Pepinster - Verviers Central - Welkenraedt - Hergenrath - Aachen Hbf	SNCB AM62
RB33 Rhein-Niers-Bahn	DB Regio	Duisburg Hbf - Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd - Rheinhausen Ost - Rheinhausen - Hohenbudberg Bayerwerk - Krefeld-Uerdingen - Krefeld-Linn - Krefeld-Oppum - Krefeld Hbf - Forsthaus - Anrath - Viersen - Mönchengladbach Hbf - Rheydt Hbf - Wickrath - Herrath - Erkelenz - Hückelhoven-Baal - Brachelen - Lindern - Geilenkirchen - Übach-Palenberg - Herzogenrath - Kohlscheid - Aachen West - Aachen Schanz - Aachen Hbf	DB Class 425	1x per hour

Operational usage

Aachen Hauptbahnhof is served by the following lines:

• Cologne–Aachen (KBS 480)
• Aachen–Brussels
• Aachen–Mönchengladbach (KBS 485)
• Liege–Aachen line (KBS 480a/L 37)

External links

• Technical aspects of Aachen station